After months of planning, the Sandy Design Help Desk reaches the Far Rockaway! Along with partners, Enterprise Community Partners Inc., Pratt Center and Margert Community Corporation, Architecture for Humanity will host a Sandy Design Help Desk to benefit NYC area residents affected by Hurricane Sandy. The Sandy Design Help Desk will provide free design and technical consultation from industry professionals to aid in the rebuilding process. Visit us from October 7 to 12 at 323 Beach 32nd Street, Far Rockaway, NY 11691.

Join Rachel Minnery, our Regional Program Manager, on October 14 for an evening symposium titled, The Design Community's Response + Strategies for Resilience. This symposium will showcase design professionals, academics and not-for-profit strategists in a panel discussion over community response and strategies for resiliency stemming from Hurricane Sandy. Our Regional Program Coordinator, Brian will be introducing the speakers, who will each discuss their organization's response for the first six months after the storm, followed by their organization's strategy for resiliency as it relates to the communities they serve.

On September 12, the residents of Seaside Heights, New Jersey were affected by a devastating fire that destroyed the southern end of the newly rebuilt boardwalk. The Borough of Seaside Heights is determined to move forward with the design and planning of the new events center near Blaine Ave on the boardwalk. Residents will gather on October 29 to envision their new events center at a community design workshop led by our Sandy team and project partners.

ReNew Schools - NJ School Children Will Receive Athletic Fields

Along with Nike USA, we are working to bring fun pinnacle expressions of sport to students affected by Hurricane Sandy. On October 30 and November 6 we will host community workshops for the school districts of Tom's River and Little Ferry, respectively. We are also working with the Union Beach school district on the repair of its outdoor facilities.

You may remember from our last update, our work with three schools in New York City. We are very grateful to our partners at Perkins + Will and Andrew Franz Architects for their time and energy spent on the designs for Surfside School, Bay Academy and Beach Channel High School. After preliminary design and investigation, the NYC School Construction Authority (SCA) who typically manages its own design and construction activities expressed a preference to self-execute the repairs to the schools, which had been the subject of our team's efforts. To avoid overlap in capability, Architecture for Humanity is now focusing the program's efforts in New Jersey, where the school districts are typically smaller and less well funded.

Interested in getting involved? The NY Team is always looking for qualified interns to volunteer in our office. Contact us below and let us know if you're interested in applying your architecture and design skills towards making a difference in the lives of communities throughout NJ and NY.

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